Perdón Me, I'm Walking Here

Total walked today: 24 kms
Total walked: 24 kms
Kms left until Navarrete: 84 kms

It was a damn good decision to go to bed early last night, because at 10pm, a storm of biblical proportions hit Pamplona, with lightning and sheeting rain that lasted until 4am. But when we were up at 7am this morning, the day was clear and sunny...and a far more temperate 85°F/27°C than the previous days of 100°F/35°C.

We started our walk at 8am from Pamplona's Plaza de Santiago (also known as a "parking lot"). We spent an hour walking out of the city and its suburbs; and Pamplona will forever be remembered as the city that installed its embedded Camino shells in the pavement BACKWARDS. The shells are pointing pilgrims in the exact OPPOSITE direction, which caused a bit of panic until we realized this. I can only imagine the conversation between the city planners and the contractors who so fully fucked this up. Fun times.

After a few hours of walking through suburban towns outside of Pamplona, we arrived at the tiny town of Zariquiegui (it's Basque, I can't pronounce it either). It was the first town that looked historically Spanish instead of a modern exurb, so we stopped to view their medieval church and take a break at the lone café. We made sure to drink a lot of water and prepare ourselves, because we'd been warned that the upcoming part of the Camino was steep and brutal (especially in the heat).

After our break, we continued on to walk a hot, 350 meter/1050 foot ascent over three kilometers to the famous Mirador de Alto del Perdón (The High Outlook of Forgiveness). It was not easy, and I would not call that walk "fun," either. But the Mirador, with its famous 1996 sculpture of Camino pilgrims throughout the milennia, is breathtaking.

The descent down from the peak, however, is a rock- and scree-covered death trap that took us longer to walk DOWN than UP. By the time we reached the teeny town of Uterga at 2pm, we were starving. Luckily this one-street town had a fabulous tavern, where I ate a roasted chicken platter so fast that I think I scared the server.

After our lunch break, the Camino flattened out, and wound through some small towns; but it was siesta time and hell-hot, so we didn't stop. At 4pm we finally arrived at our stopping point: Puente de la Reina (The Queen's Bridge), so named because in the 11th century, Queen Muniadona declared that a bridge be built for Camino pilgrims. The entire village is essentially a medieval truck stop for pilgrims- it's gorgeous, and looks like a scene from Don Quixote. The town is also the point at which many of the Camino routes through France and Spain converge, and join with the Camino Francés en route to Santiago de Compostela.

We ate a light dinner near the town square, and headed to bed early. Tomorrow's walk is both shorter AND flatter, so my feet are happy.Read more